State of OL

LatinMind

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Last yr at this time people were saying the OL had to be blown up. Jerry Jones had destoryed everything blah blah blah. Dallas made 1 change in the offseason drafting Fredrick and signed Waters during the season.

Tyron, Free, stayed where they were. Leary had spent his rookie yr developing. Seems the talent they said he had wasnt overrated. Leary from the start of camp showed he was going to start. He started out slow with a injury but came back and ended up 990 of Dallas' 997 offensive plays. All this from a guy who didnt get drafted because they said his knee wouldnt hold up.

It showed what happens when an OL can play the season together without injuries issues. Here are the total snap counts for OL players. total offensive naps the Cowboys had this yr was 997

Doug Free 997
Travis Fredrick 997
Tyron Smith 995
Ronald Leary 990
Mackenzie Bernadeau 675
Brian Waters 329
Jeremy Parnell 20
Phil Costa 1

Its clear continuity can do alot for a core. Four OL with 990 plays or more out of 997 is a great.

This OL was fixed with little change just alot of development and alot of healthy players being on the field instead of in the trainers room.
 

tayloner

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We managed to fix the offensive line in one off-season, (of course we didn't so much "fix" it as kind of got lucky with Free's improved play, Frederick pick panning out and Leary stepping up), but hoping we can have the same kind of overhaul for the defensive line this year.
 

Oh_Canada

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Last yr at this time people were saying the OL had to be blown up. Jerry Jones had destoryed everything blah blah blah. Dallas made 1 change in the offseason drafting Fredrick and signed Waters during the season.

Tyron, Free, stayed where they were. Leary had spent his rookie yr developing. Seems the talent they said he had wasnt overrated. Leary from the start of camp showed he was going to start. He started out slow with a injury but came back and ended up 990 of Dallas' 997 offensive plays. All this from a guy who didnt get drafted because they said his knee wouldnt hold up.

It showed what happens when an OL can play the season together without injuries issues. Here are the total snap counts for OL players. total offensive naps the Cowboys had this yr was 997

Doug Free 997
Travis Fredrick 997
Tyron Smith 995
Ronald Leary 990
Mackenzie Bernadeau 675
Brian Waters 329
Jeremy Parnell 20
Phil Costa 1

Its clear continuity can do alot for a core. Four OL with 990 plays or more out of 997 is a great.

This OL was fixed with little change just alot of development and alot of healthy players being on the field instead of in the trainers room.


Agreed...it's a big reason why the Niners seem to keep chugging along...no member of that oline hardly ever gets hurt.
 

JohnsKey19

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It will be interesting to see what they do at OG. Do they stick with Bernie or do they go with Watters another year if he is willing? Both had good 2013 seasons while healthy.
 

DallasEast

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The offensive line was the most improved unit on the team. Excising Phil Costa, in particular, was a major step forward. Even as a rookie, Travis Frederick provided a more secure internal anchor during pass plays. Tony Romo was enjoying more defined pockets to work in with Frederick not being blocked back into him as much as with Costa.

There is still room for improvement and fortifying the offensive line's future. I would not mind seeing an offensive guard drafted in the mid rounds to supplement the line in the short term. Someone who can provide depth for the 2014 season and contend as a starter in 2015.

That will only happen if that player receives proper pre-draft evaluation. Hopefully, we will not be seeing any more David Arkins.
 

jnday

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There are still improvements to be made on the line. The worst possible thing that could be done at this point is to consider it fixed and ignore it for another five years. They are heading in the right direction and it would be a shame not to finish the overhaul.
 

LatinMind

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It will be interesting to see what they do at OG. Do they stick with Bernie or do they go with Watters another year if he is willing? Both had good 2013 seasons while healthy.

Mack will most likely get an extension and take his cap number down. He's only 27 no reason to think he can still go 5-6 more yrs. This OL is really young. Mack and Free are the oldest and not even 29 yet. I dont think the cowboys should draft too high this yr for OL because basically theres bigger needs. A 4th-5th rounder on a G wouldnt hurt tho.
 

Dwight

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Dallas needs to consider drafting a guard and a right tackle to replace Free.
 

DOUBLE WING

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It was improved. I would hardly say it's "fixed". We need to upgrade Free and I would say we still need two more guards. One to replace Berny and the other incase Leary's knee gives out, which could happen at any time. I wouldn't depend on Leary as a long term starter. Ride him while we can, but invest in depth.
 

IrishAnto

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Last yr at this time people were saying the OL had to be blown up. Jerry Jones had destoryed everything blah blah blah. Dallas made 1 change in the offseason drafting Fredrick and signed Waters during the season.

Tyron, Free, stayed where they were. Leary had spent his rookie yr developing. Seems the talent they said he had wasnt overrated. Leary from the start of camp showed he was going to start. He started out slow with a injury but came back and ended up 990 of Dallas' 997 offensive plays. All this from a guy who didnt get drafted because they said his knee wouldnt hold up.

It showed what happens when an OL can play the season together without injuries issues. Here are the total snap counts for OL players. total offensive naps the Cowboys had this yr was 997

Doug Free 997
Travis Fredrick 997
Tyron Smith 995
Ronald Leary 990
Mackenzie Bernadeau 675
Brian Waters 329
Jeremy Parnell 20
Phil Costa 1

Its clear continuity can do alot for a core. Four OL with 990 plays or more out of 997 is a great.

This OL was fixed with little change just alot of development and alot of healthy players being on the field instead of in the trainers room.


I wouldn’t count my chickens just yet.

I’ve yet to see any of our current starters play to the required standard for two full consecutive years yet.

In addition if Waters doesn’t come back or one of the tackles gets hurt who do we have?

An additional draft pick and or free agent is still required IMO and if a quality OL was available in the 2nd I’d make the pick because outside of Free who have we developed out of the middle rounds for a decade or more?
 

1LoyalCowboyFan

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We managed to fix the offensive line in one off-season, (of course we didn't so much "fix" it as kind of got lucky with Free's improved play, Frederick pick panning out and Leary stepping up), but hoping we can have the same kind of overhaul for the defensive line this year.

I forgot who but someone on this board mentioned that we ran a scheme that helped Free out and made things tougher for the guard. If this is true hopefully Parnell steps up or we draft an OT.
 

xwalker

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Last yr at this time people were saying the OL had to be blown up. Jerry Jones had destoryed everything blah blah blah. Dallas made 1 change in the offseason drafting Fredrick and signed Waters during the season.

Tyron, Free, stayed where they were. Leary had spent his rookie yr developing. Seems the talent they said he had wasnt overrated. Leary from the start of camp showed he was going to start. He started out slow with a injury but came back and ended up 990 of Dallas' 997 offensive plays. All this from a guy who didnt get drafted because they said his knee wouldnt hold up.

It showed what happens when an OL can play the season together without injuries issues. Here are the total snap counts for OL players. total offensive naps the Cowboys had this yr was 997

Doug Free 997
Travis Fredrick 997
Tyron Smith 995
Ronald Leary 990
Mackenzie Bernadeau 675
Brian Waters 329
Jeremy Parnell 20
Phil Costa 1

Its clear continuity can do alot for a core. Four OL with 990 plays or more out of 997 is a great.

This OL was fixed with little change just alot of development and alot of healthy players being on the field instead of in the trainers room.

Interesting numbers.

They got lucky health-wise. They were 1 injury away from Phil Costa starting. If a Guard got injured, Costa would probably be the Center with Fred moving to Guard.

Bernadeau and Leary both have injury issues. Bernadeau has had 2 surgeries in 2 years. He had 2 separate injuries that lingered in 2012 and had another minor issue in training camp this year. Leary had a problem with his good knee in training camp. His other knee has a degenerative condition that could be fine for 10 years like it was for Jonathan Vilma or it could pop at any minute.

Romo is in his mid thirties and has had 2 back surgeries in the past year. They can't afford to take any chances on the OL, IMO.

Keep in mind that the Cowboys don't seem to do well picking OL in the mid to late rounds of the draft.
 

DFWJC

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The line was a bright spot this year for sure. It may not be a great line but we can no longer point to that group as major handicap.

The 2 for 1 trade down in the first round is looking pretty good so far too.

FWIW, Kiper put out his all-rookie teams and both T Frederick and T Williams made 1st team.
 

JohnsKey19

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Mack will most likely get an extension and take his cap number down. He's only 27 no reason to think he can still go 5-6 more yrs. This OL is really young. Mack and Free are the oldest and not even 29 yet. I dont think the cowboys should draft too high this yr for OL because basically theres bigger needs. A 4th-5th rounder on a G wouldnt hurt tho.

I would select a good OT in the 2nd or 3rd in a heartbeat if the right guy fell...
 

AbeBeta

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It will be interesting to see what they do at OG. Do they stick with Bernie or do they go with Watters another year if he is willing? Both had good 2013 seasons while healthy.

I think we won't know until after the draft. I can see us going with Waters again if he wants to play given that we don't draft a G in the first three rounds.

I expect we target a Tackle who can play Guard in the draft. If we get him, we move on from Waters. If not, we likely give Waters a call and give Costa's 1.5 mill base the boot to pay for it.

Also Bern ... well, he's slated to get a base salary of 2.75 mill next year. We save about 1.5 mill if we cut him. I don't think we cut him but I don't see how we can give him 2.75 mill in base. Waters was playing for (what I believe was) 1.5 mill plus 100k per game in bonuses (not sure if that was guaranteed for injury or not) - so let's say Waters was signed for about 3 mill. He won't play again for less but he certainly isn't going to ask for more.
 

AbeBeta

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Interesting numbers.

They got lucky health-wise. They were 1 injury away from Phil Costa starting. If a Guard got injured, Costa would probably be the Center with Fred moving to Guard.

The interior depth is not good. I do think we might be looking to develop Weems into a G in the off-season to relieve some of that. But it certainly is an area of concern.
 

Bungarian

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Mack will most likely get an extension and take his cap number down. He's only 27 no reason to think he can still go 5-6 more yrs. This OL is really young. Mack and Free are the oldest and not even 29 yet. I dont think the cowboys should draft too high this yr for OL because basically theres bigger needs. A 4th-5th rounder on a G wouldnt hurt tho.

This guy is a backup at best. Replace him with a drafted guy and save the money.
 
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